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President Xi Jinping has told top Chinese entrepreneurs including Alibaba’s Jack Ma that the private sector has “great potential” and has pledged a series of measures to improve the country’s business environment.
Ma’s attendance on Monday at Xi’s first high-profile meeting with private entrepreneurs in several years was a clear signal that China’s most famous entrepreneur had been rehabilitated after becoming the most prominent victim of a government crackdown on the tech sector in 2020.
Analysts said the meeting also signalled Beijing’s desire to present a more positive disposition towards the battered private sector.
Xi pledged that the Communist party would “unwaveringly encourage, support and guide the development of the private economy” while strengthening the state sector.
State media quoted the Chinese president as promising a level playing field for private business and the resolution of problems such as high financing costs and late payment by state bodies, as well as a crackdown on arbitrary fees, fines and inspections.
State media footage showed Ma standing and clapping alongside more than a dozen Chinese entrepreneurs as Xi entered an ornate room in Beijing.
A combative speech by the Alibaba founder in late 2020 led Xi to cancel his Ant Group’s blockbuster initial public offering and kick off a crackdown on the power and influence of the country’s billionaire class.
“Ma is sitting there in the front. It means private business is still important,” said Li Chengdong, head of ecommerce think-tank Haitun.
“Internet companies were the most active and hard-charging private companies — the regulatory storm they faced led many to focus on the rise of the state economy,” he said. “Now there will be more balance.”
Video showed Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei and Xiaomi chief Lei Jun reading from prepared remarks before Xi spoke.
“Entrepreneurs should be full of entrepreneurial and patriotic passion, continuously elevate their ideals and cultivate a deep sense of national responsibility,” Xi said.
Private groups should “strive to contribute more to promoting technological innovation . . . and building a modern industrial system,” he said.
Chinese officials have been trying to improve the country’s business environment after a years-long property sector slowdown that, along with the campaign to rein in big tech and other sectors, damped investor and consumer sentiment and dragged on economic growth.
Wang Huning, China’s top political theorist, presided over the meeting and praised Xi’s words as “highly insightful”, demanding they be studied and implemented “to create a new chapter in the development of private enterprise”.
Investors and Chinese internet users poured over the seating chart of Monday’s forum to gauge the importance Beijing placed on the companies and individuals arrayed before Xi.
Unitree founder Wang Xingxing, whose robots have been featured in military exercises and dancing on news shows, was seated front and centre, flanked by Ren of Chinese national champion Huawei. Yu Renrong, head of chip company Will Semiconductor and Liu Yonghao, founder of agriculture conglomerate New Hope, were also seated in the first row.
Other tech executives at the meeting included Robin Zeng, chair of leading battery maker CATL and Meituan boss Wang Xing. Tencent chief Pony Ma, Wang Chuanfu, chair of electric vehicle maker BYD and artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng were also present.
The emergence of DeepSeek’s pioneering AI models has helped renew interest in Chinese technology and ignited a bull market in Chinese tech stocks. The Hang Seng Tech index, a benchmark of the top 30 tech companies listed in Hong Kong, is up 24 per cent since the start of the year.
Notably absent from video footage of the event were Baidu founder Robin Li and JD.com boss Richard Liu. Baidu’s Hong Kong shares fell 7 per cent on Monday, while those of JD.com retreated more than 3 per cent.
China’s slowing economic growth has weighed on private business, and executives have faced intensified scrutiny over alleged corruption and a spate of detentions by local authorities.
Haitun’s Li said the uncertainty had led many of China’s leading entrepreneurs to spend most of their time abroad. The meeting signalled that “their personal safety is not in question in China”, he said.
